Amazon Up Close: The Passionate Adventurer's Guide to the Brazilian Amazon & the Pantanal

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Excellent! Absolutely indispensable for the Amazon traveler - not only is it packed with useful info, but Bloom clearly understands the local cultures in a way that few travel writers do. Highly recommended-

Rating:
Summary: Amazing read!
Review: Few books have ever excited me as much as this one. My copy has a sticker that says it won Best Guidebook of the Year and this book deserves it. The author has obviously traveled herself through the Amazon and she gives a lot of "up close" tips. But what makes the book so special are also the articles written by other people--scientists and shamans who work with tribal people. The chapter by Dr. Meyer who had a shamanisticc experience with an Indian tribe and fire ants is just incredible! I wasn't even planning to go to the Amazon when I visited Brazil but somehow this book ended up in my hands and changed my life. Whether you are going to the Amazon or just want to read about it,get this book. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: the best of what is around, but be careful
Review: Not many books are available about Amazonia,and indeed this is a very useful one when trying to find information on excursions, guides, food, health... but some remarks on the cities and their inhabitants are quite superficial. The way people live in cities such as Manaus or Belém should make us think of more than what colorful the marketplaces are, if we intend to understand a bit of what's happening in the Amazon, and in Latin America. The inclusion of detailed maps of the cities and some budget hotels could greatly improve this book.

Rating:
Summary: More than a travel guide ¿ a riveting adventure
Review: Passionate, adventurous and highly controversial, Pamela Bloom's Amazon Up Close is more than a mere travel guide - it's a riveting adventure through one of the last unexplored frontiers. Join this veteran Brazil expert and leading scientists as they canoe down the big river, tramp through rainforest, unearth new medicinal herbs, commune with backwoodsmen and encounter some of the world's most remote tribes.

Travel tips for floating down the Amazon; what you absolutely must know in advance about bedding down in the forest; secret sites for fabulous sportfishing; how to find clean sheets, hot food and hopping nightclubs in the cities of Belém, Manaus and Santarém. A complete guide to surviving in style!